Be Encouraged, Be an Encourager

Ok, my last blog was kind of heavy, all true, all important for your life, but still a little heavy.  Let's talk about something a little less intense this time.  I had something happen in my store last week that almost blew my mind.

As I was checking out a gentleman, a rather large and somewhat imposing gentleman (of course, when one considers my size, a great number of people could fall into the category of imposing) something happened that I  considered out of the norm.   In the middle of the small chit-chat that happens during checkout, right as he was speaking to me, he stopped and turned to a couple that had come up next to him.  

As he looked at the couple he instantly said "You don't know me and I don't know you, but the Holy Spirit has just told me to tell you that the Lord knows the burden you have been carrying and He wants you to know that He will lift your burden.  You will see His blessings, His mercy and His love."

As the man at the register continued to speak I watched the man he was speaking to.  His eyes went from questioning suspicion to amazement to understanding to appreciation to joy with little tears in the corners of his eyes.  

As I stood there listening, my mind was racing, too.  My first thought was "what in the world is this guy doing!"  Then I realized that he was actually speaking from the Holy Spirit.  I was amazed at the effect it was having on this man and his wife.   Then I was amazed that the man at the counter had the chutzpah (sorry, that was the best word I could think of because the words like daring and courage and audacity and bravery just aren't enough to describe his actions) to speak this way to people he had never seen nor met.  I admired his courage and envied his ability to speak a message from God with such obvious ease.   

I thought, man, if I could just speak a message of encouragement in the  power of the Holy Spirit like that wouldn't it be great.  Then I realized that maybe the Holy Spirit had tried to use me like that as I  grew up and I just didn't have the faith and the courage do what the Holy Spirit wanted to me to do.  

I remember, as a young man, sitting by the bed of my aunt, one of the most precious people in my mother's life, as she lay dying of bone cancer.   I remember the the voice in my head that said, "You have the power to heal her if you will just touch her and declare her healed in the name of Jesus Christ!"  Well, of course I was too afraid that people would think that I was crazy and sat there and watched my dear aunt die.

I've never escaped the feeling that I  could have changed that  if I had just had the courage to trust a God that I told people I trusted. A God who says that He is the Great Physician.  A God who tells us that if we have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed we could move mountains.  Did He lie or am I just not as trusting in Him as I should be.

God didn't call each of us to exercise the spiritual gift healing and He didn't call each of us to exercise the spiritual gift of prophecy but He does call each of us to trust Him.  And he gives this promise for each of us:  "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

God has encouragement of all sorts in His Word for you if you have made the decision to make Him Lord of your life.  And if He is Lord of your life you can so easily make a difference in the lives of others by just giving a word of encouragement.   You don't have to have a spiritual gift of encouragement to bless the life of those you come in contact with.  Just share a word of encouragement, not lies, not flattery, just honest encouragement.  

Danger: Lost Opportunities

I have to tell you that I really love my Sunday School class.  We have two marvelous men of God who trade out the teaching responsibilities and they are both great but I think I'm seeing a  pattern going on.  

We are studying the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, arguably one of the most difficult books in the Bible, and when we get to a particularly hard passage neither one of them is available to teach that day so they ask me to teach it.  No, seriously, all of Hebrews is a difficult book to glean out all of God's Truth, and they both do an excellent job.  I am grateful and honored when they give me the opportunity to lead their class.

Before I tell you about the Sunday School class, let me tell you about being raised in a small country church in the South.  You had a preacher who loved God and loved his church and he knew everybody by name.  On any given Sunday morning he could be preaching along and even get a little loud if he got excited or needed to make a point.  And on any given Sunday you might be sitting on the back pew with a couple of your friends, writing notes or whispering and all of a sudden, right in the middle of his sermon, the preacher, who knew all of you and all of your parents, would stop and call your name and tell you to be quiet or pay attention.  You were mortified to be called down by the preacher but you also knew that you were going to get it when you got home! (Please don't ask me how I know this.)

This past Sunday the verses we looked at were Hebrews 6:1-8 but since the passage starts with the word "Therefore" you really need to go back to chapter 5, verses 11-15 first.  In the first part of Hebrews Paul (we're actually not sure who wrote Hebrews but I'm going to say Paul to keep it simple right now) tells about how superior Christ is to Moses as a prophet and a leader and then how Christ is superior to any high priest, including Melchizadek (I'll explain him later) when suddenly this preacher realizes that no one is following what he is talking about.  He tells them that they should be able to "eat spiritual meat" but they are having trouble understanding spiritual "milk".  They just aren't following all he's talking about.  In Hebrews chapter 6 he tells them, not so subtly, (kinda like my preacher when I was a kid) what kind of life to prepare for if they choose to play at being a Christian instead of really trying to become a better Christian, or worse, if they've never really turned their heart over to God through faith in Christ and they are just playing the church game because they think it makes them look more acceptable.  

Let me try to make 8 short verses even shorter. If you invited Jesus into your heart or "gave your heart to Jesus" and continue to make the same bad choices that "the worldly" people (people who admittedly could care less about Jesus or His sacrificial death) make, He will, first, let you experience the consequences of your bad life decisions (which should be bad enough to encourage most of us to want to change the way we are living).  And if that isn't sufficient to encourage you to seek a life that demonstrates Godly choices and a God honoring lifestyle, second, He might actually be forced to resort to punishment, much as a parent is forced to chastise a petulant and disobedient child.

How, you might ask, can we know what is a Godly choice or a God honoring lifestyle?   The best way is to read God's word, the Bible, a portion every day.  The old excuse about, "I just don't understand all those 'thees' and 'thous' really doesn't work.  There are many excellent translations available now, some even in conversational English (contact me in comments if you would like some suggestions).  And to start getting you interested, I suggest you try reading the book of John first (the third book in the New Testament).  You just can't make Godly choices until you begin to know a little about God.  His Word is a great place to start.

Well, what can I do to learn faster?  Start attending a good Bible teaching church!  OK, there are so many churches how can I know which is the right one?  Three things go into that decision.  First, attend several near you and see how you feel about them.  You will be surprised at how they might impress you, and that has to do with the second thing in finding the right church, listen to the Holy Spirit.  When you gave your heart to Jesus you immediately received a very important companion called the Holy Spirit.  The Bible describes Him as our counselor, our guide, our comforter, and our companion.  What He is is the part of God who stays with us all the time.  He lives in our heart.  Not necessarily the muscle that pumps blood, but the part of us that is really us, where all of our secret desires lie and where our important decisions are made.  Where the real "us" is.  He's the part of God that stays with us all the time, so, I guess, that makes Him a Who, not a What!  And as we search for a Bible believing and teaching  church the Holy Spirit will help us in our decision if we let Him.  Third, pray!  Praying is not a lot of fancy words that old men impress you with at the close of church, prayer is just talking to God.  Talking about what is important to you and asking what is important to Him.  Oh, and some times that means prayer means allowing a little time to be still and to be quiet and listen.  Yes, God will talk to you, too, by impressing your heart.

God doesn't want your life to be a meaningless, purposeless life of corporate ladders and social status and fighting and failures and frustrations.  He wants it to be meaningful, and joyful and filled with satisfying purpose.  It will be only when we seek to walk with Him and learn more about Him and what He has for us everyday.

Hebrews chapter 6 tells us the other option:  to ignore God and seek self-satisfaction and self-social distinction and to gain the envy of man leads to despair and a purposeless life and failure and depression.  Because remember, without God, he who dies with the most toys, still dies, but he who lives for Christ never dies.